Retired Gen. Mark Hertling was chatting with The Bulwark’s Ben Parker on Thursday for the “Command Post” podcast about reports that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s staff broke one of the World War II globes used by former General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He has a guess about who did it.
The Washington Post reported that in February Hegseth decided he wanted one of the Eisenhower globes to show off to guests in his office. Instead of waiting for trained curators known for handling the deliberate process of moving priceless artifacts, the staff tried to move it themselves. The end result was not merely a scratch but a large hole in Antarctica.
“It’s been safe in the Pentagon for 80 years but didn’t last one day with Pete Hegseth before they broke it,” Parker joked.
“It’s careless and this is a historical and important artifact. It’s something that I think would be, certainly if it was in the secretary of defense’s office he could point to if his visitors came and said, this was President Gen. Eisenhower’s globe during World War II. And it would be an oh, wow, moment for anyone who saw it. But again, these kinds of artifacts are taken care of by historians. Great care is taken when you move those,” said Hertling.
He said he had a similar story, though nothing was broken. While working in Europe at the Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA), he found desks Gen. George Patton used, as well as one used by German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
A high-level official back in the U.S. decided that they wanted one of the desks in their office. Hertling said that he and everyone in the office did whatever they could to put barriers in the way, even getting the German government involved, saying it would be raiding their historic artifacts. Ultimately, the official forgot about it or moved on. But trying to transport something so valuable across the world and leave it in someone’s office was probably not the best way to preserve an artifact.
“I can probably bet that the guys who were told to go move it were a couple of lieutenant colonels in Hegseth’s outer office who are doing nothing but posting trash on X all day long and attacking people,” he said. “I bet it’s the same guy. I’m going to see if Kalshi would take me up on that bet.”
Parker said that the ‘symbolism of Hegseth destroying a piece of military history simply to decorate his office and didn’t want to consult with people whose job it is to handle these things with care is kind a…” as he trailed off.
Hertling compared it to Trump tearing down the East Wing of the White House, the giant arch being built and his ripping out historic cherry blossoms.
He explained that these kinds of symbols are part of the history and tradition of the United States and that it’s worth looking back.
“You want to portray the standards, first of all. You want to portray the professionalism of the force, but you also want to use examples of others that used the military in the right way,” Hertling added. “Who lived by the values, who did what was right for the country, who stood up for the Constitution.”